February 2nd,  Friday

Today was a strange Training Day. It was scheduled to be a swim day. After having had a nice bike ride yesterday and a solid running workout on Wednesday, I was determined  to put in a solid swim session today in the heated pool. However,  when I woke up this morning the weather was not pleasant. The sky had a heavy overcast,  the temperature was in the upper 50s and the wind was humming pretty steadily.  My quadriceps were quite tight and sore from yesterday’s bike workout.  Wednesday and Thursday had seen the two most aggressive workouts I had done in sometime.  I could feel myself sinking slowly into the wimp stage. But I sucked it up, dressed quite warm and headed out to do a very slow run. It was a struggle at first, but I spent the first 15 minutes doing extended warm up. I threw in some leg swings some karaoke and a few squats and lunges. I managed to push through three pretty slow miles with achy quadriceps that did improve as time went on. The entire workout was about 56 minutes with 50 minutes of warm up and 3 miles in about 40 minutes. By the time I got back the sun was out,  the temperature had risen and the skies had cleared. So I sucked it up once more and headed to the pool a little while nervous about how I would feel in water. In the pool I did a few more exercises and then swim 20 laps 250. All in all I got more done than I thought I was going to get done early in the morning and I’m pretty happy with the whole day. We will see how my legs respond in the morning.

Stats-

I-Mad and I-Mid = 1/2

Weight = #153 😊

Workout = NOT WHIMPY 56 MINUTES

February 1st, Thursday

Today I biked 11 miles along the shore on my $35, Panama Jack beach bike.  That equals the first time that I have ridden the actual length of the  triathlon bike segment.  Good progress .

It continues to amaze me how firm and flat and long the St Augustine beach is.

Stats are stable.

January 31st, Wednesday

Endless beach……

This morning I was inspired by a post by my friend James Willis, who posts under the name Running on Old Legs.  James is an ultra Mountain Runner who is a remarkable athlete. This morning as I was waking up I read his post which detailed a 29.3 km run with his friends. He is a beast. So I got out of bed and determined to complete my longest run to date. I had already decided that I would run at least three miles today on the beach. That was my goal.  I dressed for the 55 degree, sunny, blue sky weather. I did remember to put on my sunscreen. The beach and surf were glorious today. I have posted above a picture that I took with my ancient telephone. The other thing that I took note of today was that I did not see in the entire length of my run a single iota of trash or litter anywhere. This beach is at most places 50m wide, but I could not spot one item along the way. In fact at one point I accidentally dropped the kleenex that I was using to blowing my nose . I panicked and chased the wind-blown kleenex for at least 200M trying to recover it; all the time fearing that I was going to become the first human to desecrate this pristine expanse of nature. I did catch it.😂

Duly inspired by both James and the wonders of nature I managed to run 5 miles in 62 minutes. I actually ran the first 4 miles in 46:30 with 10 x pickups of 50m to 100m.  (AVERAGE – 11:33)  My right calf muscle began to slightly cramp as the 4th mile ended.  So, out of an abundance of caution, I  walked for a while before slowly jogging the final mile in 16:00 . Both time and distance were the longest in many months.  Fortunately, my feet continue to thrive with the new training plan; run, bike, swim.

Stats –

I-Mad and I-Mid = 1

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Sleep = 9 hours

Weight = #154

WORKOUT = 4 miles + 10 × 50m to 100m pickups (46:30) + 1 mile  cool down  total. 62

January 29th,  Monday

My private pool.

Today was another 40 minutes in the heated pool under that same heavily clouded sky as yesterday.  The result was that I once again had my own private pool for my own private workout.  The pool is pictured in the photo above taken from  the balcony of our condominium.  During the past 24 hours, from the time I finished my run and bike workout yesterday, it has been raining practically non stop.  I swam another 42 laps (500m) in the pool plus 10 minutes of running in the 5-foot end of the pool.    GOOD WORK!

Stats –

I-Mad and I-Mid = 0😊

Weight = #154

Sleep – Yuck!  Broken and too hot.  4/5 hours 😞

a.m.HR – 54BPM

WORKOUT = 40 MINUTES SWIMMING AND RUNNING IN POOL

January 28th, Sunday

Yesterday was a day of recovery after five straight days of work. That was probably the first 5 days in a row that I did a workout and a very long time. It was 60 degrees at about 2 o’clock with a very heavy cloud cover that threatened rain at any moment. Today my goal was to run 3 full miles, something I also haven’t done in quite a while.  I wanted to go back to the neighborhood I ran in frequently last winter, which is about 1 mile from our condominium. So I decided to ride the bike to the area as warm up. I locked up the bike after about 1 and 1/2 miles and started out on my run, slowly.  I was tentative and my body was uneasy for about 10 minutes before I started to feel comfortable with the run. I willed myself to complete the three miles, each one getting faster by about 1 minute starting at 12 minutes. That was 33 minutes of running. I hopped back on the bike and headed home completing the entire circuit of 7 miles.  Afterwards I went to the exercise room to do a short arm and upper body workout. All of that took a total of 71 minutes. 70 minutes.

Stats –

I-Mad and I-Mid are good.

Weight – #153.5

January 26th,  Friday

(posted after midnight )

With the temperature hovering in the low 60s today, I had the pool all to myself under a heavily clouded sky.  The temperature in the water is very comfortable.  80* ?  I swam 42 lengths which add up to 500m in 25 minutes.  Then I ran in the five foot water for 15 minutes. This included touching the bottom lightly on each stride and doing basically what amounts to a bound on each. It turns out to be some serious work with very little impact.

I felt pretty hard-core today.

Stats – Stable

Workout = 40 minutes swimming and running

January 25th,  Thursday

Today is our 49th wedding anniversary. I cannot think of a better way to have spent the last 49 years then in love with Arlene.   I am a lucky guy.

My workout consisted of 5 miles of biking and running for a total of 44 minutes. This was my first effort to run after a significant bike ride. I recovered r quite well and I was tempted to pick up the pace and to extend the run. However, I resisted to maintain an abundance of caution. My feet have been reacting very positively to the new training plan of less running with more bikinG and  swimming. This morning, Friday, I could honestly say for the first time in quite a while that I could evaluate my crazy a.m. pain indexes as zero on both feet.😊 Swim tomorrow…

Stats –

I-Mad and I-Mid = 000 😊

Weight = #155

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Sleep = 8 hours

Workout = 44 minutes bike and run

January 24, Wednesday

We took the 4-wheel-drive Escape on the beach today. Arl and I both rode the new Panama Jack beach bike for a while. I also ran 1.5 miles with a few 50 stride pick-ups along the way. Total of 40 minutes in motion…..

Deliberate progress—-

January 23rd, Tuesday

40 minutes in the pool this afternoon

The pool is truly delightful!   Today I learned that the pool is 12m long, which means I need to swim 42 laps non-stop to complete 500m, which is the distance I will have to swim in the triathlon in August.  I didn’t count laps today, but I’m pretty sure I was close to that number.

I am pleased with the way that my body recovered from yesterday’s workout that included biking, running and swimming. None of it was very intense yesterday, but it was an hour, and it was three activities.

Heated pool, new beach bike, balmy 65* weather: how could conditions be better for triathlon training?😎

Stats-

I-Mad and I-Mid = 2.       I-GFD =2

A.M.HR – 54BPM

SLEEP = 9 HOURS

WEIGHT = #155

WORKOUT = LONG SWIM

January 22nd,  MondayRelaxing  after workout

Reporting from sunny Florida where temperature today was about 68 degrees in St Augustine. Today I did my first Tri work out. I rode for 25 minutes on the beach on my new $35 Beach bicycle from Craigslist. Then I ran for 20 minutes on the beach. And finished up with 10 minutes swim in the very nice heated outdoor pool in our vacation complex. It is the first time I’ve done all three parts of the triathlon event in one day and was pretty fatigued by it, but recovered pretty quickly. I am very excited about training for the next 7 weeks. My only fear is that my body doesn’t hold up . So I have to be very careful.

Update stats tomorrow, still getting oriented …